If you ask Indiana Rep. Andr‪é Carson what it’s like being one of the youngest members of the Congressional Black Caucus—he’s 37—you can hear the awe in his voice.

“To see an Emanuel Cleaver, to see a John Lewis, to see a Maxine Waters every day at work,” he trails off, listing legislators whose names are often linked with civil rights. Most of them could well be his parents. He holds the seat of his late grandmother, Rep. Julia Carson, who was herself a larger-than-life figure in Indiana’s black politics for years.